Saturday, September 6, 2008

Too Much Pooh?

The Walt Disney Company makes close to two billion dollars a year in merchandise from the cuddly little bear.

This gives them a great incentive to keep coming out with new films, television shows and toys among other things. So after it was announced about the cancellation of "My Friends Tigger and Pooh", I got to thinking about the animated offerings the Mouse has come out with since Walt made that first short many, many years ago. It made me wonder, is this enough? Have they mined the Hundred Acre Woods until there's nothing left to use?

I absolutely love Pooh, always have, and probably always will. (Although I wasn't too thrilled to have Christopher replaced by that other girl.) I know some people think he's been around for too long, but that just proves that he can withstand the test of time.

I do believe Pooh has been in the spotlight for a long time though, and he is losing the depth he used to have; he deserves a rest honestly.

I say Disney should take him out of view for a couple of years, just quiet his fame. After a while of letting people miss him, slowly start to bring him back into the public eye, and then relaunch the franchise.

I say if they have good, original ideas for Pooh that will attract a new audience and bring back the old, they should use them to their advantage. Pooh is timeless, so he's easy to fit into each generation.

I, for my part, have had enough of Pooh. I loved the books as a kid, liked the first Pooh toon and the first one featuring Tigger, but after all the lesser films that followed and the shameful glut of spinoffs and merchandising, I have had my fill of the silly old bear. And even more insufferable is Tigger. That laugh makes me think of striped throw rugs in front of a roaring hearth. BTW, Honor, do you have any idea WHY the "My Friends" show was cancelled? I heard that it had originally been okayed for another year, but then the suits abruptly changed their minds. I'd love to know the reason why...

I like the older Pooh stories, but not the one with the girl Darby on the Disney Channel. It looks too computer generated and I don't like them changing from Christopher Robin to Darby. It makes no sense.

I want to comment specifically on The Tigger Movie as an example of where the franchise has both "gone too far" and, simultaneously, stretched the original material in new and interesting ways. I absolutely love the character of Tigger and his nearly unwavering carefree playfulness, so seeing him downhearted, depressed, and even angry is a HUGE departure. But, at the same time, it works. It fits in perfectly with his character. Because of the emotional wallop, I sometimes have a hard time watching the movie, but I am very glad that it exists.

Ultimately, the question is not whether the "Pooh Franchise" has run its course, the question is whether Disney should be the sole arbiter in deciding what that course should be. These are characters that have been around for over 80 years! Things like The Tigger Movie show that there are great ideas and possibilities inherent in the characters that haven't been explored. So, while the idea of replacing Christopher Robin with some other girl isn't true to the books, it is an expansion and an exploration of what is possible. Ideally, infinitely more expansions and explorations would be possible and we could more readily choose between the good and the crap. But, with current copyright laws and one corporation in control we can only choose between Disney's offerings and, well, Disney's offerings.